Some Promises We Make, But Others We Break
by OpenOtaku
Summary: "Onii-san... I promise ... you'll be the first to see my hitai-ate when I get it!" "I'm looking forward to it," We all have promises we want to keep, but sometimes Fate just doesn't seem to work that way. (Minato and Naruto are brothers, and I'm sorry for some of the OOC'ness. Please read, and enjoy. Teen for language, references, and whatever else I think of.)
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello! This is my first Naruto fan fic, please, be nice. Also, I was wondering, that there aren't many Namikaze family based Fanfictions anymore... So, I decided to make one, with a bit of a twist. **_

"_Onii-san... I promise ... you'll be the first to see my hitai-ate when I get it!" _

"_I'm looking forward to it," _

The rain was unusually cold that day. Droplets cascaded off of the rafters and plummeted onto the cold brass railings. Then, flying to the solid concrete in a 'plup'. Rain was soothing but it chilled you to the bone. The water seeped in and rusted and soaked the body. It made it stall, and stop, causing them pain. Water was horrible, as the little blonde boy thought as he lay on the floor playing with a rusty toy. His bright blue eyes stared at the endless black glass the robot owned. His movements were like a rusted robot as the blonde had concluded. The boy could not sit up, and that was because he had taken the wrong pill, _again_. The boy sighed. The kyuubi was more of a problem than the Third had led on. The boy looked up at the window, the rain was calming and rather chilly. The youth now wished he had a blanket close by, but that was not the case. It lay on the floor of his bedroom which was, unfortunately on the second floor. And he being the foolish eleven year old he was, he lay in the living room, which was the furthest he got when he normally took the wrong pill. And so, he would just have to wait until his brother got home...

If his brother got home...

Minutes soon turned to hours as the boy sighed in frustration. He was sure it was forty below zero, and his old brother was _still_ nowhere to be seen. He grumbled in annoyance. The blonde knew it. His brother was not going to get home anytime soon, and with that, the little boy tried his best to get comfortable, though it was rather challenging to when you cannot move. With a tiny inaudible huff, he closed his eyes and attempted to get some sleep.

In what seemed like minutes, the front door of their home opened. A Voice was heard from the Hallway.

"I'm Home, Naruto-kun. Are you awake?" The voice was deep, but soft in a fatherly way. The owner of said voice had light footsteps as he made his way into the living room. He saw the child's foot as his eyes grew and he ran into the living room. "Naruto?! Are you alright?! Did you fall?!" The man shook the smaller blonde as a mix of fear and anguish found its way to his young face. Said younger blonde's eyelids fluttered as he looked up into a blue pair of eyes similar to his own.

"...Onii-san?" Naruto's voice was scratchy and filled with cracks. His elder brother breathed a sigh as his messy hair shook with the rest of his head in relief. But soon relief turned into a bombardment of questions.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor Naruto-kun? Did you fall? Is it the Kyuubi again?" The older blonde's bright blue eye peered deep into the smaller boys who frowned up at him.

"I'm fine, Minato-onii-san. I just took the wrong pill," Naruto looked up at his older brother while cringing. He knew what was coming next, he could tell from the expression his old brother made. "That's all-"

"That's _all_?" Minato's face darkened with anger as he picked his younger brother up and carried him into the kitchen. In a swift motion, the little genin sat on the counter stiffly. Naruto's eyes stared at the back of his older brother's hokage coat. The bright red letters spelled out "_Yondaime Hokage". _Naruto was always in awe of his brother's jacket.Minato growled under his breath while opening a drawer and picking up a smooth white box. "You need to be more careful,"

"I am always careful-" Naruto rolled his eyes while meeting the eyes with his angry older brother who Naruto swore was using a tiny bit of killing intent, since, right then and there he was scared.

"When was the last time I found you lying on the floor?!" Minato shot quickly, his bright blue eyes darkening as he narrowed them.

"... Two days ago..." Naruto looked away with shame and embarrassment burning on his face and in his chest.

"And you wonder why I had you removed from the acad-," Minato caught himself too late. Minato turned to face Naruto, with a needle filled with a dark blue fluid. Naruto looked down while his blond locks covered his face. The academy was a touchy concept between the two ever since Naruto had become the jinchuuriki two years turned to face Naruto, with a needle filled with a dark blue fluid. He sighed while grasping his youngers brother's arm, before the jinchuuriki jerked his arm from the Hokage's grasp. Minato furrowed his eyebrows while reaching out to grab his little brother's arm. Naruto smacked away his hands yet again. Minato looked up at his little brother's face. He felt as though he kicked a puppy. Naruto had tears welling up in his large eyes.

"C-Cause I'm forgetful?" His tears fell down his cheeks as he tried to wiping his eyes, to no avail, "Because I'm the damn Kyuubi's useless vessel?! Is Is Is it because you always have to look after me?!" He hiccuped while looking his stunned older brother in the eyes.

Minato's face scrunched into a pathetic look as he threw his arms around his little brother. " No! N-None of that is true..." Minato took a shaky breath as be patted his little brother's hair, "You are my little brother, Naruto Uzumaki, younger brother of The Yellow Flash! Nowhere in that is there any room for being useless, now is there?"

Naruto sniffled as he mutely shook his head in response. "And when you do take the correct medicine, you're always helping, always. You even help me carry papers to fro from the office. How could someone so helpfully be useless, hm?"

Naruto looked up at Minato in the hope that he was telling the truth. "I-I guess n-not.."

Minato pulled away as he wiped his eyes. "Good," He held out his hand, waiting for Naruto to place his arm in his hand, an action that the little boy complied and gave him his arm. Minato grabbed the needle and delicately pressed it into the younger boys arm. The boy didn't wince, he didn't even flinch. Soon, after administering the medicine he threw out the needle and washed his hands. Minato glanced at his little brother who stared at his legs in silence.

Naruto looked down, his large eyes still shiny from tears as he began to feel the strength in his legs. Naruto slowly shook out his legs as he pushed himself off the countertop slowly. His landing was the void of grace, for the smaller blond nearly fell on his face, if not for Minato catching him. Naruto frowned up at him before quickly hiding it with a smile.

"Thank you Onii-san."

Minato, not noticing the frown smiled at his little brother, "You're welcome, Now, if you're up to it, want to go to Ichiraku's-"

Naruto instantly brightened up, "I feel great! Let's go, Let's go, Let's go now!"

Minato smiled while nodding, "alright! Alright! We'll go, but first, go get dressed. Then, we'll head out, okay?"

Naruto beamed while nodding before slowly running up the stairs. Minato watched with a smile until his younger brother was from sight and his smile instantly dropped. He sighed a deep guilt filled sigh.

Sometimes he wished he never agreed to having the Kyuubi being placed into his little brother. He regretted that, every time he found his little brother paralyzed waist down sprawled out on the floor. Every night he had to sit at his hospital bed, wondering whether or not Naruto would wake up the next day. The Kyuubi was in no way how the Third had described it.

'It would be a great honor' he said, 'it would make the people love him' he said.

_Lies. All of them._ Minato gritted his teeth while bangin his balled hand against the counter. What could you do to forgive yourself when you had to pull your younger brother away from what he loved? How could you live seeing that very same boy dying a little each time he saw the hitai he wore on his forehead. There were so many things he wanted to tell Naruto, so many things he wanted to just hear his little brother say that he forgave him. Even then, that wouldn't mean he would, deep inside the beating thing he called his heart. Deep inside, everytime he had to see the quiet boy his little brother had become, his heart constricts. It wasn't something an 8 year should deal with.

Why did it have to be Naruto?! ...

That question burned his mind everytime he saw looks they gave Naruto, some of hate, some of pity, and others of complete disgust. And the only thing was that they were looking at the wrong person. No, they saw Minato as a hero since, two years ago, he had sealed the Kyuubi into his own little brother, when the last Jinchuuriki candidate 'disappeared' when the time came to sealed the dreaded beast inside them. All of the other candidates also seemed to have disappeared as well, leaving Naruto, the last and most likely candidate of all. The people had no shame, then, to pour salt on the wound, not even a full 24 hours after the ceremony, they all began slowly popping up all over Konoha. Minato growled under his breath while leaning against the counter.

Sometimes, he hated people. Sometimes, he _really _hated people. Minato would have gladly taken that burden from his little brother- but, he was too old, 2 years too old. Children had to be 1 to 20 to be a vessel, even if for a year, if they were of that age, they would hold the Kyuubi until their bodies rejected the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi was like a disease, the young man concluded while leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. The Kyuubi had an effect similar to a disease, that affected every jinchuuriki differently. And Naruto, had begun to lose the use of his legs. It could be seen as he ran down the stairs in a struggle as he tried to force his legs to move as they had once had. Minato frowned until his little brother came into view. Instantly his smile reappeared as he held his hand to his little brother. Naruto's eyes sparkled as he ran over and took his older brother's hand.

"Let's go, shall we?" Minato grinned while Naruto beamed and nodded.

"Yeah!"

Minato smiled softly as his little brother started cheering and a huge smile appeared on his normally sad face.

Even if Minato could never take back anything he did, and even if his brother didn't forgive him, at least, he could still make Naruto smile until his life on Earth runs out.

_**First Chapter Done Yay~ Um, I hope you liked the chapter, and it wasn't bad, (I'm sorry if the characters are OOC I just couldn't do it any other way.) Anyways~ Please review, follow, favorite, and better yet, share with others! ^-^ Since sharing is caring (Of course!) As usual, the more reviews, follows, and favors I receive the faster I will post chapters. That, and with Summer on the turn, I will have all the free time in the world~ SO MORE CHAPTERS (Hopefully.) Okay, peace out! Don't let the unicorns bite~**_

_**-OpenOtaku**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thank you for the comments, follows and favs! Now, let us begin! **_

Minato held the hand of his little brother who stumbled along.

"Are you sure you're okay, Naruto-kun? "

"Hai, Onii-san. I-I'm okay,"

Minato frowned as the little boy continued to struggle on while stubbornly refusing to tell him he was in pain. "I can always carry you-"

"No, Onii-san, I'm good. I don't need help," Naruto shook his head while walking slowly towards the ramen shop. Minato was secretly glad that the shop was so close.

A few minutes later, the shop was in sight, Minato said many thanks to the Shinigami of time. Minato stared at the stools in interest, depending on who sat there would determine whether they would stay or not. Since, many times, drunk people would wander over and start throwing slurs at Naruto. And he would have to take his crying brother home, after beating the said drunk, of course. This time, though he saw a particular young boy there. This child had long black hair pulled up into a neat ponytail on his head. Minato knew that ponytail from any where, and with that he grinned. It was Umino's boy. Minato picked up his little brother who started yelling protests.

"Onii-san-" Naruto whined as he squirmed, he didn't like being picked up. Not one bit.

"We're almost there, Naruto-kun," Minato beamed while running to the shop in record speed, setting his little brother down next to the other little boy.

"Iruka!" Naruto yelled in surprise as the other boy nearly choked on miso ramen.

" H-Hai Naruto-sama?!" Iruka attempted to bow before hitting his forehead against the table and screaming out in pain. Naruto sweatdropped while glancing at his brother who just chuckled.

"Don't call me that, Iruka-san. You know I don't like-"

"I-I'm terribly sorry, Naruto-sa- I mean, Naruto-san!"

Naruto giggled as Teuchu came out and began talking with Minato.

"So, how has he been?"

Minato looked at the man with a bittersweet smile.

Teuchu leaned on the counter with a serious look on his face. "Not that great, eh?" Minato looked down while frowning slightly. What the Hokage didn't realize was that the young twin of himself stole glances at him and the younger Umino yapped off his ear about keeping up his health and such. Teuchu soon found his hand ruffling the hair of both the little Namikaze and his friend, Umino.

"Teuchu-san!" Both children chorused in between childish giggles as Iruka made a comment about a comic book he read. Minato's eyes softened as he watched his younger brother giggle with another boy. It made him happy to see Naruto have a friend. After pulling Naruto out of the Academy Minato feared that the boy would be alone, but, it seemed he still had friends.

"Good evening, Sensei" Minato was taken out of his thoughts as he turned to see one of his most achieved students standing in front of him. He was short, with silver hair and one dark eye, the other was casually covered by hitae, as the rest of his face was covered by a simple mask that covered his nose and his mouth. The boy had a fist on his hip as his other hand was stuffed in his pocket.

"Ah, Kakashi!" Minato smiled and turned to see his little brother's head pop up as he beamed at the jounin. His eyes brightened even more as he literally threw himself at Kakashi.

"Kaka-nii!" The small blonde squealed as he collided with the jounin who caught him with ease. The copy nin's eyes smiled as he ruffled his hair and set him down.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," Naruto beamed at the usage of _kun _at the end of his name, "How has therapy been?"

Minato watched as the little ex- academy student's face darkened. Minato felt a pang of regret seeing the little boy's pained face. "Riga-san left saying I was hopeless..."

Then, silence came over the tiny ramen stand, Iruka looked at the boy with sad eyes as Teuchu turned away and angrily scrubbed at the dishes he had behind him, growling about how rude people were.

Kakashi's smile faded as he looked down at the boy with a pitied expression. It must be hard to have someone say such things to your face. Even when you had gone through so much, to only have more and more obstacles hold you back. It was frustrating. Kakashi hesitantly grasped both of the boy's shoulders as the copy nin knelt to the height of the kyuubi container. "Riga-san is wrong," Kakashi's voice was gruff and strained, as if he was trying to not yell the words he knew that his sensei also thought. "You are not hopeless, not in the tiniest bit."

Naruto's blonde hair covered his eyes as he looked down at the ground. The boy made no sound as he balled his fists up tightly. The tiny ex-academy knew that was not the case. He knew he was a burden and hated that more than anything. The eyes of the Copy Nin and the Hokage bore into the boy's tiny figure. In what seemed like hours, the boy brought his head up with the largest smile the little boy muster. Their eyes seemed to ease but, both of them knew the smile never reached the younger blonde's eyes.

"Thank you, Kaka-nii!" Naruto smiled as his bright blue eyes seemed to only darken more so with each passing moment.

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun,"

Minato sighed to himself as Naruto soon began blabbing about his toy. He wished that his little brother didn't hide behind that silly attitude. He wished that the said attitude was his attitude, rather than the quiet, lost boy who stayed caged in his home..

The evening would then saunter on as such, Naruto chatting with Iruka and Kakashi, and Minato casually talking with Teuchu and the other people who passed. This was the normal evening that Naruto and Minato used to experience. Minato smiled at his younger brother who laughed while drawing in the dirt with Iruka. Kakashi sat beside his sensei who chuckled as the boys began wrestling in the dirt.

"You know... Naruto isn't going to live forever." Minato glanced at the boy in silence. The man frowned, the sadness seemed to pull the edges of his mouth. "...Was it wise to pull him out of the academy?"

The silence between the two jounin seemed to only grow as the blonde stared at his younger brother who was completely oblivious of what was going on, other than beating the snot out of Iruka. Minato, deep down regretted pulling his brother out of the academy, truly he did. But, there were too many dangers.

_Or, Rather too many fears. _Minato thought bitterly to himself as he turned to his student, who at the time, was staring intently at the two boys in the dirt in front of the ever vacating streets.

"I can't protect him if he's out there, he's not even able to walk for long periods of time. How, then, would he be able to outrun a group of overpowered nins? Or dodge if he can't move his legs? I am not about to let my younger brother be a sacrificial piece in the midst of war. We've already had enough great ninja lost, we don't need to send out more,"

Kakashi looked down at the Hokage's comment. The Copy nin couldn't help but see a certain goggle wearing cry baby pop into his mind.

"... But would you rather have him live a long but miserable life, or let him live happily, even if the result will be short? You may be the Hokage, but, you are still my sensei, and the I knew is not the man sitting beside me right now," Minato flinched at Kakashi's words as he looked up at the sky, his normally bright blue eyes ,looked like a raging storm. He sat with his head in his hands his eyes now looking out at his little brother who now stood in victory as the Umino lay on the ground, KO'd. Naruto was laughing haughtily. Minato sighed while shaking his head.

"...Humans are selfish, Kakashi. And neither of us are any different. I may want to put my little brother in a cage, but... it's better than having to bury his lifeless body."

Kakashi's eyes hardened at the words of his beloved sensei. Minato Namikaze wasn't selfish, he was strong, and he never let what he wanted get the way of others. Until, it came to his little brother. Then, he was a completely different person. Kakashi opened his mouth to fire back a retort when a ninja flashed beside him. Kakashi nearly gasped in a feminine fashion if not for the fact that there were people there, most who would never let the squeal go.

"Hokage-sama," Minato blinked and looked up at the towering brown haired shinobi.

"Oh, Hello, Yamato. What is it?" Yamato smiled at both of them while sitting on the other side of Minato.

"They have arrived with Uzumaki Kushina,"

Minato glanced at the shinobi with a knowing smile. He knew the red hair shinobi hated waiting, more that she hated people being being annoying and rude. Minato called to his little brother while smiling.

"Naruto-kun, Onii-chan needs to go run a quick errand. Would it be okay if Kakashi-san and Yamato-san took you home?"

Naruto paused, his small cheeks puffing out in protest, but noded reluctantly, "Okay, Onii-chan. But come home before I go to bed so we can read our shinobi story Jiji-san gave us!" Minato beamed while walking over and ruffling his little brother's hair while grinning.

"I wouldn't miss that for the world," Naruto smiled while nodding as he waved at his big brother before he shunshined away in a quick flash.

Sometimes he really thought his big brother was the coolest.

Kakashi sighed as he lifted the little boy onto his back. Naruto mumbled in his sleep while drooling onto the Jounin's back. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he shuddered. Sometimes he really didn't like kids. Even if the kid was his beloved mentor's brat. Sometimes, they were just downright disgusting.

Minato Shunshined behind a certain redhead who standing in the middle of his office. Kushina's long locks of red hair seemed to sway as the fleeting sun seemed to set her hair ablaze with color. The woman's normally bright blue eyes were now dull with her lack of energy as her head lulled. Minato chuckled slightly as the shinobi did not seem to even notice his presence. Kushina reminded him so much of Naruto, he was surprised they weren't some how related.

"Ahem." Kushina's head popped up in attendance as she could literally feel the heat rising to her cheeks.

"Hokage-sama!" Minato chuckled while sitting his chair and smiling up at his fellow friend.

"Didn't I tell you to call me Minato?" Kushina pouted at the Hokage while crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly.

"That was before you're made Hokage-tebane!" Minato nodded in understanding. That made sense.

"So, what brings you to my office so late, especially right after a promotion mind you," Kushina looked around while looking at the blond man sitting before her. She leaned across the desk, her long silky hair cascading into beautiful ringlets onto the smooth brown surface. Her eyes now seemed to burn with a determination Minato couldn't help but admire.

"Hokage-sama, I don't mean to be brash but, this is a conversation that should be kept between just the two of us."

_** A cliffhanger that implies WAY too much~ Anywayz. Please rate comment like and what not. Though, comments help make me post faster. Just to let you know, okay, if you have any questions, just ask. I'll answer them to the best of my mental stability. **_

_**Ja ne, **_

_**OpenOtaku**_


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